Southside wasn't the only team from Northeast Alabama to bow out of the state tournament. In Class 4A Guntersville and Cherokee County, in Class 2A West End, Pleasant Valley and Geraldine and in Class 1A Spring Garden all failed to advance to today's state finals.

"That was more like we've played all year," said Panther coach Angie Hall of her team's loss. "I was wondering when it would come back out."

Southside defeated Oxford last Saturday for the regional championship.

"We played exceptionally well against Oxford," Hall said. "I felt like we were coming together, then we played well (Thursday), but we fell apart today."

The Panthers finished 2-1 in pool play Thursday.

"I'm not faulting our effort," Hall said. "We played hard, but we've got to come together. We've got a lot of competitiveness, but it's got to be expressed in a more positive way. We get upset too easily."

Stephanie Rea led Southside with 16 kills, seven digs and three aces. Haley Booker had 27 assists, 11 digs, three aces and three kills. Katie Ball added nine kills, nine digs and six blocks and Keisha Hunt had eight kills, seven digs, one block and one ace.

West End, Geraldine and Pleasant Valley were eliminated.

Geraldine eliminated West End in the quarterfinals, 25-20, 25-20, 25-21.

"Geraldine is really good," said Patriot coach Connie Clark. "They didn't give anything away. I didn't think we played bad, but we made too many mistakes against a quality team."

Hannah Coffelt had 21 assists, three kills and two aces for the Patriots. Cassie McKee had eight kills, one assist, block and one ace. Amanda Umphrey had seven kills and one ace and Melanie Gibbs added seven kills, two aces and one assist.

Geraldine was then eliminated in the semifinals, as defending state champion Bayside Academy won, 25-21, 25-17, 25-14.

"We got it again," said Bulldog coach Cristie Brothers. "We got eliminated last year by the same team, in the same round, on the same court."

One thing that Brothers saw as a positive was her defense.

"I thought our defense was really sound," she said. "I've said that all year. We got some hits today that no one else could've gotten to. The defense played awesome."

For the day, Geraldine was led by Britney Roberts' 30 kills, seven blocks and three aces.

Megen Harris had 30 assists, 22 digs and one assist. Marsha Mountain had 28 assists, 19 digs and three kills. Nicole Strickland had 13 kills, two blocks and one dig.

"The girls did not give up (after going down 2-0)," said Raider coach Bridget Keef. "They fight harder than anyone I know of."

In the semifinals, the tables were turned on the Raiders, as Lexington won, 18-25, 19-25, 29-27, 25-22, 15-9.

"I really don't think fatigue was a part of it," Keef said. "I knew they would come back in the third game and play better. The girls were maybe expecting them to play like they did the first two, so they let up a little."

"St. James played the match of their lives," said Cherokee County coach Jon Moseley. "And we weren't getting the breaks. The balls just rolled the wrong way. It wasn't our day. But I was proud we turned it around after getting down two games."

This came after Centre beat Jemison in the quarterfinals, 25-15, 25-10, 25-13. In that match, Anna Kisor had 32 assists and six digs. Jordan Morgan had 13 kills, five digs and two aces. Tadshi Dupree had 14 digs, six aces and six kills.

"I'm not a happy camper," she said. "We finally got on a roll, then got taken out of the game several times. (The officials) were easily swayed on decisions. That's not to take away from Gulf Shores. They came ready to play, but it's not right for the officials to decide the game."

Callie Bynum led the Wildcats with 63 assists, seven blocks, two kills, one dig and one ace. Jessica Cahill had 16 kills, nine blocks and nine digs. Lauren Bice added 15 kills, five assists, one block and four digs. Betsy Beam had nine kills, 11 digs and four blocks. Simone May had 14 kills and 15 blocks.

In that match, Mikie Garner had 20 kills and six digs. Candie Hairrell had 19 assists and one ace. Latrisha Abernathy had 10 kills, six digs and five aces. Brittany Parris had 13 assists, eight kills, six blocks and three aces.

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